Research:2026-03-01/Journal article/policing-the-poisonous-herb-pleasure-politics-and-kif-in-colonial-algiers

ResearchJournal article1 March 2026

Policing the “Poisonous Herb”: Pleasure, Politics, and Kif in Colonial Algiers

Danielle Beaujon

The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs

Examines how the French colonial police dealt with kif in Algiers between 1930 and 1950. Beaujon notes that Ottoman administrations had taxed and regulated kif and argues that French rule made it illegal, giving the police a charge through which to watch Algerians for perceived sexual deviance, political activism and forms of pleasure at odds with French norms. On the evidence of police records, the article argues that kif policing began as order maintenance and became part of a wider project of political control, with officers frequenting cafés and stopping suspected users in the street. It places Algeria within a French regulation of kif that also covered Morocco and Tunisia.

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DOI10.1086/739612

CountryAlgeria

Record created 15 October 2026maintained by landrace.wiki editorspage history

2026-03-01 2026-10-15 Policing the “Poisonous Herb”: Pleasure, Politics, and Kif in Colonial Algiers Journal article History Danielle Beaujon The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 2026 10.1086/739612 https://doi.org/10.1086/739612 Examines how the French colonial police dealt with kif in Algiers between 1930 and 1950. Beaujon notes that Ottoman administrations had taxed and regulated kif and argues that French rule made it illegal, giving the police a charge through which to watch Algerians for perceived sexual deviance, political activism and forms of pleasure at odds with French norms. On the evidence of police records, the article argues that kif policing began as order maintenance and became part of a wider project of political control, with officers frequenting cafés and stopping suspected users in the street. It places Algeria within a French regulation of kif that also covered Morocco and Tunisia. Algeria